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Ubuntu: Try KDE 4.2 Now!

hehe2.net — The fourth iteration of the K Desktop Environment saw its first release in January of this year; while it generated a lot of hype in the community, its release disappointed many folks whom were expecting to be able to jump headlong into a brand new, next-generation....

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 5, 2008

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  • Tsiolkovsky, on 12/05/2008, -1/+19Yes. it can.
  • jrepin, on 12/05/2008, -1/+16Yup, Qt 4.4 enables you to put any widget to the canvas and properly redirects input to the transformed widgets. Here you can see it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLbO73oQaeU
  • shethinkmefunny, on 12/04/2008, -3/+17Sort of. You actually install the full KDE alongside Gnome. You pick which DE you run at the login screen. If you go the full monte, you can even replace GDM (the gnome login manager) with KDM (KDE's login manager). If you want to take it one step further, you can install the kubuntu-desktop package and get the kubuntu bootsplash and other artwork.

    related to the article, I don't recommend installing KDE 4.2 to *use* just yet. I've been playing with it for the last week or so, and it's definitely not ready yet. Dolphin, for example, has "No Text No Text No Text" where the "File Edit View" menubar is, there are strange rendering bugs, and the performance isn't very good yet. All the things you'd expect of an early beta. If you want a usable working KDE 4 system, use 4.1.3 for the time being. That said, KDE 4.2 has some very nice enhancements, and I think this will be the one that makes it ready for the masses, instead of just the early adopters.
  • jadrian, on 12/05/2008, -0/+12If you were using Compiz Fusion in KDE you were doing it wrong. KDE comes with its own window and composite manager, KWin.

    Anyway I'm guessing you were indeed using KWin. All I can say about that is that I have OpenSUSE 10.3 with KDE 4.1 in my laptop with ATI graphics card and effects work great.
  • jadrian, on 12/05/2008, -2/+12Such as...
  • int19h, on 12/05/2008, -0/+10One of the key things about KDE 4 are the new libraries that the eye candy is being built on, which are supposedly great.
  • phantom_mullet, on 12/05/2008, -3/+12I don't know...my design eye is still unsatisfied with KDE. I can't necessarily describe it, but it just doesn't look THAT aesthetically pleasing to me. I guess the word I could use to describe it is inconsistent. I think Open Source is great, but when you have a bunch of people working on something each with a different artistic viewpoint, the end product can look....tacky.

    GNOME isn't that great from a design aspect, but at least it is consistent.

    Feel free to bury me...just expressing my opinion.
  • inactive, on 12/05/2008, -1/+10Besides that this isn't just another 'Vista sucks use Ubuntu' article, I'd have to say you're missing the point. There are plenty of really useful features under Linux that you just can't get the same feeling of anywhere else. Not to mention customized distros and the lower requirements. And writing C/C++ code is great under Linux because of how well the development is integrated.
  • smacksaw, on 12/05/2008, -1/+10Umm...you do realise that you can make it look like whatever you want - in fact, that's one of the biggest points KDE has is that you can make it look really awesome.

    http://www.kde-look.org/

    Whatever it is about Vista or MacOS that you like, KDE can do it AND things it can't do. In fact, I can say from an objective standpoint that KDE is better than Win/Mac for desktop environments because it can do anything/look like them and more.
  • int19h, on 12/05/2008, -1/+9I thought Intel were one of the few companies that has released open source drivers for their 3D-cards?
  • Gento, on 12/04/2008, -2/+10I'm impressed thanks for contributing this, but still would not recommend users to tweak lots around the KDE 4.2 its still in beta condition.
  • noisymime, on 12/05/2008, -0/+8Another KDE 4.2 article that fails to mention what I think is one of the biggest improvements over 4.1: better dual head support!
  • ksound, on 12/05/2008, -1/+9I do not know why people keep saying to hold out for 4.4,4.5. I have been a long time KDE user, I tested most of the pre release betas of KDE4 (opensuse vm's). Installed the 4.0 release alongside my 3.5 it had its problems but to me it was a big step in the right direction so I used it almost full time. Since 4.1 I have not used anything but KDE 4. It fits my needs I have no problems with stability and I personally do have the feeling I am missing features 3.5 had.

    KDE 4 is drastically different so it is understandable some people do not like it. But I get the feeling many people did not even give KDE 4 a proper change after its disappointing 4.0 release. Try it for yourself and do not base you opinion on the opinion of other individuals. Opinions (including mine for that matter) are worthless.
  • XVampireX, on 12/05/2008, -1/+9That made no sense
  • dualscreenman, on 12/04/2008, -2/+9That's a problem with the Neon packages. A machine just takes a snapshot and craps out package. No humans are involved so it's a bit buggy, as you can see.

    Official packages have been released for (K)Ubuntu: http://www.kubuntu.org/node/58 which are much better quality-wise than Neon. Neon should only be used to preview features.
  • noisymime, on 12/05/2008, -1/+8Intel's (open source) linux driver is really quite good, given the hardware limitations. Its certainly a lot more capable than the Windows equivalent.

    I think you meant to be coughing at ATI
  • jadrian, on 12/05/2008, -0/+6I can't afford to have an unstable system. I slowly started using KDE 4 in another user account, and ended up moving completely to it during 4.1.x. Very happy with it.
  • gavintlgold, on 12/05/2008, -1/+7Can that rotated browser accept input?
  • ksound, on 12/05/2008, -0/+5While I do not agree with you sir, I will digg you up out of principle.
  • ch40sBr1ng3r, on 12/05/2008, -2/+7Wow....i must say kde cleaned up a lot.
    I use OpenSUSE 11, i was using KDE 4.1 but it didnt play well with compiz fusion so i went with gnome...but kudos to KDE, maybe ill switch it up every once in a while.
  • shethinkmefunny, on 12/04/2008, -1/+6I thought that's what I said. KDE 4.2 is at the beta 1 benchmark. It's a bad idea to use beta software as your daily environment, but it's interesting to check out its progress.

    The article almost gives the impression that 4.2 beta 1 is like a Google beta, where it's more-or-less completely done, just still in beta for safety. I just wanted to clarify that 4.2 is not yet ready to be the daily driver, but that 4.1.3 is suitable for everyday use and still very good.

    Did not mean to be ambiguous.
  • XVampireX, on 12/05/2008, -0/+5Useless? I find it actually helpful, it improves on both KDE3/Gnome and KDE 4.1!!!

    Now someone should just figure out a different way to use the panel :) Cause the Panel is a been there done that kind of thing :)
  • inactive, on 12/05/2008, -2/+7Holy *****.

    No really.
  • Virgule, on 12/05/2008, -3/+8You guys saying it's still in beta and that you are waiting for them to fix things for you are SO totally missing OSS's point.. :faceplam:
  • drjones78, on 12/05/2008, -1/+5I agree... something has always bugged me about kde... it just feels all wrong, despite looking pretty good at the same time, for some inexplicable reason.
  • Vadi0, on 12/05/2008, -4/+8It's still in beta as far as I know.
  • inactive, on 12/05/2008, -1/+5I typically build my own FreeType with the 'illegal' antiailising enabled, but I'm sure if you can't build it yourself that there are at least guides for Ubuntu. BTW, It's GNOME you're thinking of not Ubuntu, and they do use Truetype fonts, just without the 'ClearType' style anti-ailising.
  • JoelJ, on 12/05/2008, -0/+4I know what you mean. I want to like KDE, I just can't for some reason...
  • XVampireX, on 12/05/2008, -1/+5I'm an ubuntu user, I find the new Colours so much better :)
  • megamod, on 12/04/2008, -3/+7So it's like installing KDE's Plasma and everything as a session in Ubuntu?
  • InorganicMatter, on 12/05/2008, -1/+5Trying KDE on any form of *buntu is a surefire way to come away disappointed. Wait for real KDE distros (Mandriva, SUSE) to implement it properly.
  • mazza558, on 12/04/2008, -2/+6It's literally a minimal KDE environment, only a beta version.
  • cosmicr, on 12/07/2008, -0/+4why would I want to rotate a window??
  • inactive, on 12/05/2008, -2/+5Its really good if you want to help the kde community get things up to standard. But its not for mission critical stuff yet maybe when 4.4 or 4.5 is here?
  • Tiak, on 12/05/2008, -4/+7I'm still waiting for them to start re-implementing all of the things I loved about KDE that were lost in the transition to KDE4.
  • diceau, on 12/05/2008, -0/+2It's the window lining I think, they need something more appealing as the default look.
  • QubitTarutaru, on 12/05/2008, -1/+3Kubuntu
  • int19h, on 12/05/2008, -2/+4I've never logged out of KDE 4 so far, since each session has crashed. That said, the latest KDE 4 looks beautiful! I don't know what you're talking about.
  • cmost, on 12/05/2008, -3/+5Wouldn't the stunning and beautiful blue/black/silver KDE desktop cause some Ubuntu users' heads to explode? Now could you have that on your conscious?
  • Anobyl, on 12/06/2008, -0/+2Yes, it can do proper transparency.
  • HorseloverFat8, on 12/05/2008, -0/+2KDE 4.2 is really impressive. I've been using it in OpenSUSE and it's suprisingly stable (moreso than 4.0 was when it originally came out).
  • jadrian, on 12/13/2008, -0/+2You have a point, it should be possible and if that's what you want then go for it. Just as a sidenote, the compiz team is focusing on composite, which means that the window managing part of compiz fusion is pretty archaic when compared to other window managers.

    Apparently it's much easier to just add composite support to a good window manager than the other way around. So you might want to give KDE 4.2 a shot when it is out in January. Apparently composite support in KWin has improved quite a lot.
  • ConceptJunkie, on 12/20/2008, -0/+2Because you can. It's one of the strengths of open source.
  • inactive, on 12/09/2008, -0/+2dude this is Linux. Everything is beta.
  • inactive, on 12/05/2008, -2/+3It's definitely no where near as bug ridden as 4.0 was, When it hits 4.4 it really is going to be a great desktop environment. The only way it can grow is if more people test and use it.
  • ninjafury, on 12/05/2008, -9/+10Looks good. Now if only hardware manufacturers would release decent drivers for integrated graphics cards....[cough]intel[cough]
  • Nicoon, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1convince you you're wrong about what?
  • bogdan77, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1Ok, point me to the best looking KDE original theme -- no MacOS X or Vista imitations, please. Go ahead, convince me I'm wrong.
  • inactive, on 12/06/2008, -0/+1I have been a longtime user of kde since 2.0, I have always liked the way that kde allowed you to pretty much tweak every aspect of the desktop environment and with each release up until 4.0 things got more refined in this department.
    When 4.0 came out I stuck by it for about 4 weeks even though it was virtually unusable. Then I used gnome for the first time since 1.4 and learned how to tweak and make gnome a better environment to work on, Now I am waiting for KDE to give me some kind of reason to draw me back to using it , 4.2 is a big step in the right direction but more needs to be done and that's why I continue to test and help in its development.
  • bogdan77, on 12/05/2008, -0/+1Sorry, wrong placed reply...
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